Creative Uses for Slurry Pipelines Benefit the Bottom Line

GIW slurry pump systems are helping industries not only by automating material transport, but also by improving companies' bottom lines. For example, take the case of Syncrude Canada Ltd. in the Canadian oil sands, which has a lot of material to move. The company produces crude oil from the oil sands, so transporting the sands to their processing facility is critical to the company's operations. Syncrude uses GIW slurry pumps to move oil sand, a process which has eliminated the need for more costly trucking and conveyor-based systems. Slurry materials, however, can often be abrasive or corrosive, so the pipeline and pump systems, such as GIW's all-metal pumps, must be designed to withstand the abuse of regular operations.

The most common use for slurry pipeline systems is in the movement of raw materials, most often right after they are mined. Slurry pipelines are used for transporting coal, copper or iron ore, limestone and many other mined materials. But, like Syncrude, a variety of industries are finding creative new uses for this technology.

Some uses of slurry pipelines include:

• De-silting dams — The construction of dams along river systems often prevents the natural flow of silt and sediment down the river to river delta areas. For example, the Aswan Dam on the Nile River has blocked 95 percent of the sediment that naturally flows downstream. The lack of silt deposits has reduced the fertility of the soil in the Nile River Valley. Proposals have been put forth to use a slurry pipeline to remove the silt that has built up behind the dam and transport it to farmlands for use as a natural fertilizer.
• Rebuilding shorelines — Sediment from the floor of Lake Boudreaux in Louisiana is being dredged and pumped through a slurry pipeline to the shore, where heavy erosion has decimated the shoreline. The relocation of the sediment is rebuilding the land area, while rock levees are being installed to prevent further land erosion. Marsh plants are now growing on the relocated sediment, helping to anchor the new land in place.

Using a slurry pipeline provides a variety of benefits to the organization:

• Reduced transportation costs — A study by Marston Canada concluded that the use of a slurry pipeline instead of truck transportation can reduce transportation costs by 34 percent.
• Highly automated operation — Less labor and equipment is needed to move the materials.
• Long-distance transport — Slurry pipelines can be hundreds of miles long, transporting materials from the mining site to ports or central processing stations.
• Reclamation opportunities — Pipelines can be buried to make the area attractive and available for multiple uses, as well as deterring vandalism.

As industries examine their processes and look for ways to improve efficiency and cut costs, they are finding that slurry pipeline technology can provide significant advantages over land transport.

To learn more about how GIW products can reduce production expenses for your company, contact us at 1.888.TECHGIW (832-4449) or visit www.giwindustries.com.